LA’s William Bensussen, aka The Gaslamp Killer, is many things at once. The San Diego native is a bonafide one-off; an artist and human being that can never be repeated. With an unparalleled energy, the DJ, producer, promoter and curator brings a different level of performance and showmanship to electronic music.

"I always felt drawn to party time ever since I was little. Any kind of opportunity; a wedding, bar mitzvah, holiday. Whatever kind of event that was going on in my little community in San Diego, if there was music, I was dancing. It's just the way it was. I've always been into the energy and the happiness that it brings.”

Being a true music lover, and a complete obsessive, as a DJ/selector Bensussen has opened minds around the world to music that wouldn’t otherwise get heard. In his own words: “As artists, it's our job to entertain as well as educate.” Alongside co-founder Daddy Kev, GLK has put Southern California on the music map for years to come, with their beat mecca Low End Theory and the vibrant creative community they’ve built around it. The weekly Wednesday club night has brought together different scenes and generations, breaking new artists while also getting the likes of Thom Yorke and Erykah Badu to play DJ sets to the fevered Low End crowd, who often wait hours to get in.

Over the last ten years, Gaslamp Killer’s iconoclastic attitude has led him beyond LA to far-reaching corners of the globe, one stage at a time: from Pitch in Amsterdam, to Sonar in Barcelona, to Austin Psych Fest, to Roskilde in Denmark, to Coachella. Holding a collection of well over 13,000 vinyl records, GLK’s untamed, unpredictable sets take traditional genres of rock into the outer reaches of hip-hop and the deep into the cosmic pressure of the heaviest electronic beats, with plenty of obscurity and bizarreness in-between.

The now rare, GLK collectables I Spit On Your Grave and All Killer inspired a new generation of DJs to appreciate the art of a mixtape. Dusted Magazine described his follow-up mix, Hell And The Lake Of Fire Are Waiting For You, with words that describe GLK as a DJ in general: “Trying to figure out what’s going on is half the draw.”

"The music that I grew up with influences me today enormously still. I love classic rock, I still love Dub and I still love Rap. Real rap. Gansta rap. I love bands, live bands, it's the music I grew up with. I don't think there are that many bands that can compare to Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Doors. They're not popular for no reason. I play The Beatles in my sets all the time still. Their music is a huge influence on me. I still play Dr Dre in my set all the time. His beats and the rhymes, the energy, they just affect me so much. They are a part of me. As well as Hip Hop, as well as Rock, and Blues, and Soul, and Jazz, and Reggae, and Dub. That kind of music I think lends to everything that we are all into today. All of us are fueled by that. The formulas that they laid and the foundations that they laid are used by musicians forever and will continue to be used forever.”

As a producer, The Gaslamp Killer has worked with artists such as Gonjasufi, Prefuse 73 and Flying Lotus. His own experimental solo material pushes the borders of genre as much as his performances, particularly with his heavy-weighted EP My Troubled Mind (Brainfeeder) and the monster Death Gate EP (Brainfeeder), which featured Gonjasufi, Computer Jay and Mophono.

Breakthrough will mark the debut full-length album from the Gaslamp Killer. Blending California-inspired psych with widespread global influences, on BreakthroughGLK brings together a potent cast of friends to contribute to the album, with guest appearances from Gonjasufi, Adrian Younge, Dimlite, Daedelus, SAMIYAM and more. A musical anachronism and unconstrained compilation from a wandering spirit.

LA’s William Bensussen, aka The Gaslamp Killer, is many things at once. The San Diego native is a bonafide one-off; an artist and human being that can never be repeated. With an unparalleled energy, the DJ, producer, promoter and curator brings a different level of performance and showmanship to electronic music.

"I always felt drawn to party time ever since I was little. Any kind of opportunity; a wedding, bar mitzvah, holiday. Whatever kind of event that was going on in my little community in San Diego, if there was music, I was dancing. It's just the way it was. I've always been into the energy and the happiness that it brings.”

Being a true music lover, and a complete obsessive, as a DJ/selector Bensussen has opened minds around the world to music that wouldn’t otherwise get heard. In his own words: “As artists, it's our job to entertain as well as educate.” Alongside co-founder Daddy Kev, GLK has put Southern California on the music map for years to come, with their beat mecca Low End Theory and the vibrant creative community they’ve built around it. The weekly Wednesday club night has brought together different scenes and generations, breaking new artists while also getting the likes of Thom Yorke and Erykah Badu to play DJ sets to the fevered Low End crowd, who often wait hours to get in.

Over the last ten years, Gaslamp Killer’s iconoclastic attitude has led him beyond LA to far-reaching corners of the globe, one stage at a time: from Pitch in Amsterdam, to Sonar in Barcelona, to Austin Psych Fest, to Roskilde in Denmark, to Coachella. Holding a collection of well over 13,000 vinyl records, GLK’s untamed, unpredictable sets take traditional genres of rock into the outer reaches of hip-hop and the deep into the cosmic pressure of the heaviest electronic beats, with plenty of obscurity and bizarreness in-between.

The now rare, GLK collectables I Spit On Your Grave and All Killer inspired a new generation of DJs to appreciate the art of a mixtape. Dusted Magazine described his follow-up mix, Hell And The Lake Of Fire Are Waiting For You, with words that describe GLK as a DJ in general: “Trying to figure out what’s going on is half the draw.”

"The music that I grew up with influences me today enormously still. I love classic rock, I still love Dub and I still love Rap. Real rap. Gansta rap. I love bands, live bands, it's the music I grew up with. I don't think there are that many bands that can compare to Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Doors. They're not popular for no reason. I play The Beatles in my sets all the time still. Their music is a huge influence on me. I still play Dr Dre in my set all the time. His beats and the rhymes, the energy, they just affect me so much. They are a part of me. As well as Hip Hop, as well as Rock, and Blues, and Soul, and Jazz, and Reggae, and Dub. That kind of music I think lends to everything that we are all into today. All of us are fueled by that. The formulas that they laid and the foundations that they laid are used by musicians forever and will continue to be used forever.”

As a producer, The Gaslamp Killer has worked with artists such as Gonjasufi, Prefuse 73 and Flying Lotus. His own experimental solo material pushes the borders of genre as much as his performances, particularly with his heavy-weighted EP My Troubled Mind (Brainfeeder) and the monster Death Gate EP (Brainfeeder), which featured Gonjasufi, Computer Jay and Mophono.

Breakthrough will mark the debut full-length album from the Gaslamp Killer. Blending California-inspired psych with widespread global influences, on BreakthroughGLK brings together a potent cast of friends to contribute to the album, with guest appearances from Gonjasufi, Adrian Younge, Dimlite, Daedelus, SAMIYAM and more. A musical anachronism and unconstrained compilation from a wandering spirit.

In a world in which upstart DIY talent is flooding the gates of electronic music, a few recent voices have been so strong as to be startling. Lapalux - aka 25-year-old Stuart Howard - is certainly one such. As singular as a brilliant artist always should be, his instinctive understanding of the atmospheric power of texture grips the ear immediately on listening. Nostalchic is his debut album, mission statement, and the climax of many years of studying his craft.

The amalgam of words that make the title is aptly, and perhaps knowingly chosen. The album evokes nostalgia without ever sounding nostalgic, and Howard may have had his tongue in his chic when he added the second half of the title. The album is his most focused document to date, adding his beloved R&B and soul into elements of house and hip hop, all with the trademark Lapalux finish; infectious, lopsided swing and achingly deep texture.

“Like the R&B of another time and place, transmitted from an unknown
planet in a distant galaxy into the mind of a wildly creative sound
designer.” – XLR8R

“Fans of the Kimbies, James Blake’s ‘CMYK’, Four Tet, Bibio, FlyLo,
Matthewdavid, Onra, Debruit and all those guys – meet your new favourite
producer.“ – Boomkat

“Lapalux is probably one of the finest producers out there at the moment” – Oli Marlow, Sonic Router

In a world in which upstart DIY talent is flooding the gates of electronic music, a few recent voices have been so strong as to be startling. Lapalux - aka 25-year-old Stuart Howard - is certainly one such. As singular as a brilliant artist always should be, his instinctive understanding of the atmospheric power of texture grips the ear immediately on listening. Nostalchic is his debut album, mission statement, and the climax of many years of studying his craft.

The amalgam of words that make the title is aptly, and perhaps knowingly chosen. The album evokes nostalgia without ever sounding nostalgic, and Howard may have had his tongue in his chic when he added the second half of the title. The album is his most focused document to date, adding his beloved R&B and soul into elements of house and hip hop, all with the trademark Lapalux finish; infectious, lopsided swing and achingly deep texture.

“Like the R&B of another time and place, transmitted from an unknown
planet in a distant galaxy into the mind of a wildly creative sound
designer.” – XLR8R

“Fans of the Kimbies, James Blake’s ‘CMYK’, Four Tet, Bibio, FlyLo,
Matthewdavid, Onra, Debruit and all those guys – meet your new favourite
producer.“ – Boomkat

“Lapalux is probably one of the finest producers out there at the moment” – Oli Marlow, Sonic Router

Simon Green, AKA Bonobo, is an artist very much at the peak of his powers. His 2013 album ‘The North Borders’ was the high watermark of his career to date: a masterful record, marrying Green's inimitable melodic genius to cutting edge electronics, bass and drums.

An artist that constantly pushes himself outside of his musical comfort zone, Bonobo’s ranging personal tastes and regularly expanding range of synthesizers and instruments continue to take his productions to new levels. This outlook has earned him a reputation as one of the most pioneering figures in electronic music, in both his solo DJ sets and 12-piece live band shows.

All this comes as the result of over ten years hard work, and five albums that have honed Green's skills. A born musician, Green - like many artists - expresses himself most articulately via his music. The result is that his work is always keenly felt, and always feels imperative. There are no wasted moments, and myriad great ones.

It's tempting to relate Green's yearning, emotive aesthetic to his upbringing in rural Hampshire. His move to Brighton is also an influence; his skill at drum programming perhaps harking back to his days DJing and producing in the small, musically fertile town. Under the initial guidance of Tru Thoughts' Rob Luis and at nights such as Phonic:hoop, Bonobo found an early education in music.

His first album - 2000's 'Animal Magic' - was released via Tru Thoughts before being picked up by Ninja Tune. It announced him as a serious talent; able to bring a true musician's edge to electronic music, with all the freedom that skill allowed. His subsequent albums for Ninja, Dial M for Monkey and Days to Come, developed his sensibility, won him fans across the globe, and saw him develop his live show into a mesmeric re-working of his records.

He also worked hard as a DJ, a part of Green's arsenal that perhaps truly came into its own at the same time as 2010’s Black Sands. 2012 saw him take the uptempo, club re-edits of Black Sands from a seminal Boiler Room performance in London to dance floors across the world, and unveil a new light show that further enhanced the impact of these stunning songs. A remix album was released featuring reworkings by fans and peers such as Machinedrum, Floating Points, Mark Pitchard, Lapalux and Falty DL.

Later the same year, he finally settled down in his New York studio to write his fifth album. The North Borders was another long stride forward - both a natural evolution and a continuation of the electronic palette of Black Sands. Thematic, resonant, addictive and perfectly formed, it's a thrillingly coherent statement piece. With vocal features from no less than Erykah Badu, as well as Grey Reverend (Cinematic Orchestra) and Cornelia (Portico Quartet) it's another finely balanced body of work, leaving room for the beautiful, rich productions themselves to breathe and shine.

Bonobo has a long history of unearthing new talent (Andreya Triana, Bajka) and The North Borders saw him do so once again. The startling vocals of new collaborator Szjerdene are sprinkled across the album, and Green has yet again found the perfect voice to express where he's at.

Since the album’s release, Green has gone on to play over 175 shows across three continents and 30 countries, wowing audiences of almost 2 million people with the hypnotic, extended live versions of his songs. He performed sold out shows at The Sydney Opera House and Brixton Academy, and his very own, day long festival at London’s Roundhouse. 2014 saw him and his band play the iconic Coachella festival, Sonar, Glastonbury and many more. This period of extensive touring came to a breathtaking close with his largest show to date at London’s Alexandra Palace in November. In celebration, Ninja Tune released ‘The North Borders Tour. - Live’ in October. A deluxe release including a live album, hardback book and a DVD of seminal live performances from a truly memorable tour.

It’s a full schedule and then some, but one that’s constantly rewarding for his fans, and perhaps proves that Bonobo is not only one of the world’s hardest working artists in electronic music, but also one of its best.

Simon Green, AKA Bonobo, is an artist very much at the peak of his powers. His 2013 album ‘The North Borders’ was the high watermark of his career to date: a masterful record, marrying Green's inimitable melodic genius to cutting edge electronics, bass and drums.

An artist that constantly pushes himself outside of his musical comfort zone, Bonobo’s ranging personal tastes and regularly expanding range of synthesizers and instruments continue to take his productions to new levels. This outlook has earned him a reputation as one of the most pioneering figures in electronic music, in both his solo DJ sets and 12-piece live band shows.

All this comes as the result of over ten years hard work, and five albums that have honed Green's skills. A born musician, Green - like many artists - expresses himself most articulately via his music. The result is that his work is always keenly felt, and always feels imperative. There are no wasted moments, and myriad great ones.

It's tempting to relate Green's yearning, emotive aesthetic to his upbringing in rural Hampshire. His move to Brighton is also an influence; his skill at drum programming perhaps harking back to his days DJing and producing in the small, musically fertile town. Under the initial guidance of Tru Thoughts' Rob Luis and at nights such as Phonic:hoop, Bonobo found an early education in music.

His first album - 2000's 'Animal Magic' - was released via Tru Thoughts before being picked up by Ninja Tune. It announced him as a serious talent; able to bring a true musician's edge to electronic music, with all the freedom that skill allowed. His subsequent albums for Ninja, Dial M for Monkey and Days to Come, developed his sensibility, won him fans across the globe, and saw him develop his live show into a mesmeric re-working of his records.

He also worked hard as a DJ, a part of Green's arsenal that perhaps truly came into its own at the same time as 2010’s Black Sands. 2012 saw him take the uptempo, club re-edits of Black Sands from a seminal Boiler Room performance in London to dance floors across the world, and unveil a new light show that further enhanced the impact of these stunning songs. A remix album was released featuring reworkings by fans and peers such as Machinedrum, Floating Points, Mark Pitchard, Lapalux and Falty DL.

Later the same year, he finally settled down in his New York studio to write his fifth album. The North Borders was another long stride forward - both a natural evolution and a continuation of the electronic palette of Black Sands. Thematic, resonant, addictive and perfectly formed, it's a thrillingly coherent statement piece. With vocal features from no less than Erykah Badu, as well as Grey Reverend (Cinematic Orchestra) and Cornelia (Portico Quartet) it's another finely balanced body of work, leaving room for the beautiful, rich productions themselves to breathe and shine.

Bonobo has a long history of unearthing new talent (Andreya Triana, Bajka) and The North Borders saw him do so once again. The startling vocals of new collaborator Szjerdene are sprinkled across the album, and Green has yet again found the perfect voice to express where he's at.

Since the album’s release, Green has gone on to play over 175 shows across three continents and 30 countries, wowing audiences of almost 2 million people with the hypnotic, extended live versions of his songs. He performed sold out shows at The Sydney Opera House and Brixton Academy, and his very own, day long festival at London’s Roundhouse. 2014 saw him and his band play the iconic Coachella festival, Sonar, Glastonbury and many more. This period of extensive touring came to a breathtaking close with his largest show to date at London’s Alexandra Palace in November. In celebration, Ninja Tune released ‘The North Borders Tour. - Live’ in October. A deluxe release including a live album, hardback book and a DVD of seminal live performances from a truly memorable tour.

It’s a full schedule and then some, but one that’s constantly rewarding for his fans, and perhaps proves that Bonobo is not only one of the world’s hardest working artists in electronic music, but also one of its best.

It's not every day that you come across a duo like Jake Wherry and Ollie Teeba. They've been working together for over a decade and continue to progress and improve, to excel in the competitive world of hip hop production and beyond.

Jake Wherry grew up in South West London. A diet of jazz and James Brown provided the soundtrack of his childhood and teenage years, before he naturally found himself getting into rare groove and old school hiphop and played guitar and bass in many jazz, funk and rock bands. Ollie Teeba, meanwhile, was strictly about the hip hop. He began DJing at 15, was playing out in London within a year and, in between, was to be found collecting sneakers.

Despite knowing of each other's rep at sixth form college it was only to be years later that they would convene at Jake's now legendary studio, Traintrax, to start their beat making careers. The guys immediately hit it off and began working on material of their own, utilising the skills of seminal collobrators DJ Malachi, Kaidi Tatham (Bugz In The Attic) and Ralph Lamb (Easy Access Orchestra). Wherry had played in school bands with PC (DJ Food) and when he heard the early Herbaliser demos, he was quick to introduce them to Ninja Tune; just in time for the mid-nineties explosion of hip hop jazz breaks.

As they explain: "Our instrumental style was born of a necessity to produce hip hop music, but without access to rappers we had to develop a new approach".

Their first album, the classic 'Remedies', was released by Ninja in October '95, a sharp hit of hard breaks, jazz sampledelia and funk, a record that could only have come out of the UK. 1997's 'Blow Your Headphones' added more vocals to the mix, in particular introducing the world (outside of the New York Underground scene) to the talents of What What (now Jean Grae).

Counteracting the prevalence of a couple of DJ's and a bongo player being the most common 'live' presentation of dance music, and inspired by the great funk bands of the previous decades, Wherry and Teeba decided it was time to take the musicians they worked with out on the road. With Tatham, Lamb and Patrick Dawes (percussion) already on board, it was a small step to making a seven piece whose blend of hip hop rawness and funk band tightness made them a major fixture at festivals across Europe.

The experience also caused Jake and Ollie to re-think the process of making a record. For 1999's 'Very Mercenary' they also began sampling their own playing partners, originating new grooves and then splicing them in the sampler as if they were off a piece dusty rare vinyl. It also featured a stellar cast of guests, What What this time being joined by Bahamadia, Blade, and Roots Manuva. But it was the musical breakthrough that fascinated them most and allowed them to indulge a love of sixties soundtrack and library records without merely chopping and looping the originals. Hence, whilst 'Something Wicked This Way Comes' (2002) featured another fantastic batch of guest vocalists, including MF Doom (long before his current deification) and Rakaa Iriscience (Dilated Peoples), it was as music that it really fascinated, a dark psych-funk underpinning being revealed.

The band went back out on the road and the record's commercial and critical success saw The Herbaliser rising to headline status at many key UK and EU festivals, with a live show that by now left most others for dead. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the boys leapt at the chance to produce last year's "Solid Steel: Herbal Blend" mix and reassert their prime skills as mixers and hip hop heads. Meanwhile, their self-evident production chops got them gigs making music for everyone from Motorola to Guy Ritchie ('Snatch'), from PlayStation ('Tony Hawks Underground') to writing NFL's theme for the primetime 'Sunday Night Football' on ESPN.

All of which leads us to 'Take London'. As you'd expect, the record shows further refinement and expansion in sheer technique, while tracks like 'The Generals' show that the boys have lost none of their edge, or sheer enjoyment of fucked up, crazed hip hop tomfoolery. And talking of the Generals (the most unusual group to come out of US hip hop in a good few years), it's great to see this album putting back one woman centre stage. What What may have morphed into Jean Grae, but her skills have gone superhuman. But then The Herbaliser have always been about progression. That and being dope...

It's not every day that you come across a duo like Jake Wherry and Ollie Teeba. They've been working together for over a decade and continue to progress and improve, to excel in the competitive world of hip hop production and beyond.

Jake Wherry grew up in South West London. A diet of jazz and James Brown provided the soundtrack of his childhood and teenage years, before he naturally found himself getting into rare groove and old school hiphop and played guitar and bass in many jazz, funk and rock bands. Ollie Teeba, meanwhile, was strictly about the hip hop. He began DJing at 15, was playing out in London within a year and, in between, was to be found collecting sneakers.

Despite knowing of each other's rep at sixth form college it was only to be years later that they would convene at Jake's now legendary studio, Traintrax, to start their beat making careers. The guys immediately hit it off and began working on material of their own, utilising the skills of seminal collobrators DJ Malachi, Kaidi Tatham (Bugz In The Attic) and Ralph Lamb (Easy Access Orchestra). Wherry had played in school bands with PC (DJ Food) and when he heard the early Herbaliser demos, he was quick to introduce them to Ninja Tune; just in time for the mid-nineties explosion of hip hop jazz breaks.

As they explain: "Our instrumental style was born of a necessity to produce hip hop music, but without access to rappers we had to develop a new approach".

Their first album, the classic 'Remedies', was released by Ninja in October '95, a sharp hit of hard breaks, jazz sampledelia and funk, a record that could only have come out of the UK. 1997's 'Blow Your Headphones' added more vocals to the mix, in particular introducing the world (outside of the New York Underground scene) to the talents of What What (now Jean Grae).

Counteracting the prevalence of a couple of DJ's and a bongo player being the most common 'live' presentation of dance music, and inspired by the great funk bands of the previous decades, Wherry and Teeba decided it was time to take the musicians they worked with out on the road. With Tatham, Lamb and Patrick Dawes (percussion) already on board, it was a small step to making a seven piece whose blend of hip hop rawness and funk band tightness made them a major fixture at festivals across Europe.

The experience also caused Jake and Ollie to re-think the process of making a record. For 1999's 'Very Mercenary' they also began sampling their own playing partners, originating new grooves and then splicing them in the sampler as if they were off a piece dusty rare vinyl. It also featured a stellar cast of guests, What What this time being joined by Bahamadia, Blade, and Roots Manuva. But it was the musical breakthrough that fascinated them most and allowed them to indulge a love of sixties soundtrack and library records without merely chopping and looping the originals. Hence, whilst 'Something Wicked This Way Comes' (2002) featured another fantastic batch of guest vocalists, including MF Doom (long before his current deification) and Rakaa Iriscience (Dilated Peoples), it was as music that it really fascinated, a dark psych-funk underpinning being revealed.

The band went back out on the road and the record's commercial and critical success saw The Herbaliser rising to headline status at many key UK and EU festivals, with a live show that by now left most others for dead. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the boys leapt at the chance to produce last year's "Solid Steel: Herbal Blend" mix and reassert their prime skills as mixers and hip hop heads. Meanwhile, their self-evident production chops got them gigs making music for everyone from Motorola to Guy Ritchie ('Snatch'), from PlayStation ('Tony Hawks Underground') to writing NFL's theme for the primetime 'Sunday Night Football' on ESPN.

All of which leads us to 'Take London'. As you'd expect, the record shows further refinement and expansion in sheer technique, while tracks like 'The Generals' show that the boys have lost none of their edge, or sheer enjoyment of fucked up, crazed hip hop tomfoolery. And talking of the Generals (the most unusual group to come out of US hip hop in a good few years), it's great to see this album putting back one woman centre stage. What What may have morphed into Jean Grae, but her skills have gone superhuman. But then The Herbaliser have always been about progression. That and being dope...

The Heavy
are the music industry’s worst kept secret. They make blazing, urgent,
infectious rock-soul with a strong dose of hip-hop. You’ve heard their songs in
a lot of different places, and it’s likely that you loved them.

Forming
in the fertile swamps of England’s West Country in the mid-naughties, around
the axis of Dan Taylor (guitarist and songwriter) and Kelvin Swaby (vocalist
and songwriter,) the Heavy immediately astounded. Jaw dropping, freshly minted
riffs, swinging hip-hop drums, funk-ridden bass and Swaby’s startling,
Mayfield-esque vocals meant early singles ‘That Kind of Man’ and ‘Colleen’ blew
minds and won hearts. The debut album they were taken from – ‘Great Vengeance
and Furious Fire’ – became an instant connoisseurs’ classic.

It was
their sophomore album, though, that saw them blasting into homes across the
globe. ‘The House that Dirt Built’ was everything a second album should be: a
deeper, richer progression from the band’s early work. It also yielded the
mighty ‘How You Like Me Now?’ The single was licensed for a major commercial in
the 3rd Quarter of the Superbowl (the biggest ad slot in the world)
and quite simply went stratospheric.

A heady
mix of impassioned, incandescent vocal, gargantuan riff and boom-bap drums, it
also happened to conjure up a triumph-in-adversity sentiment that struck a
chord across the globe. The song went on to become the first for which David
Letterman ever requested an encore, when The Heavy played the “Late Show,” and
appeared everywhere from “Entourage,” Academy Award-nominated film The Fighter,
and Mark Wahlberg’s hit comedy ‘Ted.’

“It
became such a big tune, that people asked, ‘How are you going to top that?’.”
Swaby says.

The
answer was 2012’s ‘The Glorious Dead,’ the band’s third album. Searching for
inspiration, The Heavy – which in addition to Taylor and Swaby includes Spencer
Page (bass) and Chris Ellul (drums) – travelled from their Bath, England
hometown to Columbus, Georgia. There, they hooked up with local gospel singers
and musicians for some Southern Gothic sublimity.

The final
magic ingredient in the mix was Gabriel “Bosco Mann” Roth of Sharon Jones &
the Dap-Kings, who added string and horn parts to four songs.

Even
deeper, a touch darker, and with shades of Southern Gothic infesting the swampy
rock n’ soul of previous records, the album was another giant step forward,
Frankensteining swampy voodoo and b-movie zombies with garage rock and
Gospel-soaked soul.

Lead
single ‘What Makes a Good Man?’ showed that The Heavy were able to write
brilliant singles time after time, with synchs snowing in once again, and
American radio coming on board. The band toured the world exhaustively, wowing
audiences with their transcendental live performances.

“It was
over the top, in a good way,” adds Heavy frontman Kelvin Swaby. “We went pretty
cinematic, setting out to score a film that hasn’t been written.”

“It’s
good to have a bit of light and shade,” Taylor adds.

Since then,
The Heavy has gone on to achieve storming success in Japan, playing Fuji Rock,
chalking up a #1 alternative album on iTunes Japan, scoring a major Pepsi synch
and playing Japan’s biggest breakfast TV show, ‘Sukkiri.’

Their
music was used in the stunning Guiness Sapeurs ad, they played Glastonbury,
sold out Shepherd’s Bush Empire and re-recorded How You Like Me Now? with none
other than 50 Cent, to launch ESPN’s coverage of the NFL Draft Week.

To top it
all, How You Like Me Now? reached Gold status in the United States – a stunning
achievement for an English, independent artist. How to top all that, you might
ask? Well, there’s a new album on the way, and The Heavy just happen to have a
habit of exceeding themselves…

The Heavy
are the music industry’s worst kept secret. They make blazing, urgent,
infectious rock-soul with a strong dose of hip-hop. You’ve heard their songs in
a lot of different places, and it’s likely that you loved them.

Forming
in the fertile swamps of England’s West Country in the mid-naughties, around
the axis of Dan Taylor (guitarist and songwriter) and Kelvin Swaby (vocalist
and songwriter,) the Heavy immediately astounded. Jaw dropping, freshly minted
riffs, swinging hip-hop drums, funk-ridden bass and Swaby’s startling,
Mayfield-esque vocals meant early singles ‘That Kind of Man’ and ‘Colleen’ blew
minds and won hearts. The debut album they were taken from – ‘Great Vengeance
and Furious Fire’ – became an instant connoisseurs’ classic.

It was
their sophomore album, though, that saw them blasting into homes across the
globe. ‘The House that Dirt Built’ was everything a second album should be: a
deeper, richer progression from the band’s early work. It also yielded the
mighty ‘How You Like Me Now?’ The single was licensed for a major commercial in
the 3rd Quarter of the Superbowl (the biggest ad slot in the world)
and quite simply went stratospheric.

A heady
mix of impassioned, incandescent vocal, gargantuan riff and boom-bap drums, it
also happened to conjure up a triumph-in-adversity sentiment that struck a
chord across the globe. The song went on to become the first for which David
Letterman ever requested an encore, when The Heavy played the “Late Show,” and
appeared everywhere from “Entourage,” Academy Award-nominated film The Fighter,
and Mark Wahlberg’s hit comedy ‘Ted.’

“It
became such a big tune, that people asked, ‘How are you going to top that?’.”
Swaby says.

The
answer was 2012’s ‘The Glorious Dead,’ the band’s third album. Searching for
inspiration, The Heavy – which in addition to Taylor and Swaby includes Spencer
Page (bass) and Chris Ellul (drums) – travelled from their Bath, England
hometown to Columbus, Georgia. There, they hooked up with local gospel singers
and musicians for some Southern Gothic sublimity.

The final
magic ingredient in the mix was Gabriel “Bosco Mann” Roth of Sharon Jones &
the Dap-Kings, who added string and horn parts to four songs.

Even
deeper, a touch darker, and with shades of Southern Gothic infesting the swampy
rock n’ soul of previous records, the album was another giant step forward,
Frankensteining swampy voodoo and b-movie zombies with garage rock and
Gospel-soaked soul.

Lead
single ‘What Makes a Good Man?’ showed that The Heavy were able to write
brilliant singles time after time, with synchs snowing in once again, and
American radio coming on board. The band toured the world exhaustively, wowing
audiences with their transcendental live performances.

“It was
over the top, in a good way,” adds Heavy frontman Kelvin Swaby. “We went pretty
cinematic, setting out to score a film that hasn’t been written.”

“It’s
good to have a bit of light and shade,” Taylor adds.

Since then,
The Heavy has gone on to achieve storming success in Japan, playing Fuji Rock,
chalking up a #1 alternative album on iTunes Japan, scoring a major Pepsi synch
and playing Japan’s biggest breakfast TV show, ‘Sukkiri.’

Their
music was used in the stunning Guiness Sapeurs ad, they played Glastonbury,
sold out Shepherd’s Bush Empire and re-recorded How You Like Me Now? with none
other than 50 Cent, to launch ESPN’s coverage of the NFL Draft Week.

To top it
all, How You Like Me Now? reached Gold status in the United States – a stunning
achievement for an English, independent artist. How to top all that, you might
ask? Well, there’s a new album on the way, and The Heavy just happen to have a
habit of exceeding themselves…

[counter_player] =>
[counter_biog] => “What the hell were we thinking?,” exclaims Dan Taylor, guitarist for U.K. indie soul-rock titans The Heavy, of the band’s audacious album, The Glorious Dead. “We wanted to make a bold statement – it’s not shy, but a beast unto itself." "It’s over the top, but in a good way," adds charismatic Heavy frontman Kelvin Swaby. "With this record, we went pretty cinematic: we basically set out to score a film that hasn’t been written."
Indeed, The Glorious Dead proves singular: Frankensteining everything from swampy voodoo and b-movie zombies with garage-rock guitars and Gospel-soaked soul, it becomes a whole other creature feature unlike anything else you’ll hear this year. The Glorious Dead isn’t just The Heavy’s third full-length: it’s also the group’s most ambitious effort, traveling sonically from the group’s South England home to America’s deep South, and beyond. It’s also building off momentum from The Heavy’s greatest success, the international smash single “How You Like Me Now?,” off the band’s acclaimed previous album, 2009’s The House That Dirt Built. An infectious anthem of hard-rocking maximum R&B, “How You Like Me Now?” exploded upon release: it became the first song David Letterman’s ever requested an encore for when The Heavy played it on his “Late Show,” and has appeared everywhere from “Entourage” episodes, Academy Award-nominated film The Fighter, and the trailer for the new Mark Wahlberg comedy Ted. “How You Like Me Now?” continues to enthrall: on the recent climax of the 2012 season of NBC’s hit show “The Voice,” Adam Levine’s team contestant Tony Lucca performed the song to massive acclaim. “That was surreal,” says Taylor. “It’s taken on legs of its own. I can’t complain, but I wouldn’t want to be known for one song – it’s not our peak.” “It’s such a big tune, people ask, ‘How are you going to top that?’,” Swaby adds. “But we’re not going to lie down and play dead.”
As such, The Glorious Dead rockets out of the grave with supernatural force. Alternately haunting and relentless, album opener “Can’t Play Dead” thunders as if Jack White remixed “Ghost Town” by The Specials. It’s followed by “Curse Me Good,” which provides a jarring contrast with its sweet whistled hook, George Harrison-meets-T.Rex acoustic strum, and a heartbreaking soul vocal from Swaby. “It’s good to have a bit of light and shade amid the onslaught of heavy guitars,” Taylor explains. “I find we’re always trying to recreate the diversity of, say, The White Album, but with beats.” Likewise, “Big Bad Wolf” combines primal howling à la Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, funkdafied breakbeats, and eerie electronics that recall Luniz’ stoned rap classic “I Got 5 On It.” “Think vintage, but keep it contemporary – that’s our approach,” Swaby explains. “It’s integral to make everything sound like samples from our record collection, but with a modern edge. We’re not afraid to use technology, and everything needs to have that tight, heavyweight bottom end.”
Epitomizing this all-inclusive strategy is The Glorious Dead’s centerpiece breakthrough track, “What Makes A Good Man?” Defiant yet uplifting, “What Makes A Good Man?” contrasts Swaby’s gritty soul searching with girl-group call-and-response vocals and soaring, epic strings. Its creation provided the spark that would prove crucial to the album’s inception. Looking to soak up some Southern Gothic inspiration, The Heavy traveled far from their hometown near Bath, England all the way to Columbus, Georgia on the advice of their U.S. tour-bus driver, Sam Phillips. There, Phillips hooked the group up with a number of church-trained singers and players: they would take Swaby and Taylor’s song ideas to another realm, like singer/keyboardist Lloyd Buchanan’s intense contribution to “…Good Man?” “We had the beat and the chorus for ‘Good Man,’ and when Lloyd started jamming on the B-3 and singing on it, I was like, ‘This is going to be insane,’” Swaby says. “The Gospel singers started doing the chorus they already knew they song – they made it sound like the Supremes or Ronettes. It was an incredible feeling: after that, we were on our merry way.” Taking the material to yet another level was the contribution of Gabriel “Bosco Mann” Roth, Daptone Records co-founder and bandleader of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, with whom The Heavy had toured extensively. Roth ended up scoring innovative string and horn parts to four of The Glorious Dead’s ten songs. “It doesn’t sound like what Gabriel does with the Dap-Kings,” Taylor says. “He got into the mindset to do something different.” “He’s such a talented entity,” Swaby continues. “I couldn’t believe what was coming out of the speakers. It was so fitting, with this vintage sound, and amazing beauty. It reminded me of these black-and-white films I used to watch as a kid.”
Film loomed as large an influence on The Glorious Dead as music. As key inspirations, Taylor cites the tweaked Americana of Jim Jarmusch’s Down By Law and the voodoo vibes of the James Bond classic Live and Let Die alongside ‘60s Mod rave-ups and the atmospheric Brit multiculturalism of Fun Boy Three and The Specials; Swaby, meanwhile, explored low-budget horror flicks alongside the controlled screaming of garage-rockers The Sonics, Tom Waits’ elastic growl, and soul giants Al Green and Otis Redding. Starting in January 2011, Taylor, Swaby, and bandmates Spencer Page (bass) and Chris Ellul (drums) began combining these ingredients into their own idiosyncratic blend – a process launched by The Heavy building their own studio and choosing to produce The Glorious Dead themselves. To mix the results, the band first worked with longtime associate Jim Abbiss (Adele, Arctic Monkeys) at Peter Gabriel’s famed Real World complex, then finished up with Paul Corkett (The Cure, Nick Cave, Björk). “Self-producing was all about being self-sufficient in realizing the vision we had,” Taylor says. “Your third record is judged as to whether you’re there to stay, or slide off the face of the earth. We want to stick around, so we took our balls out and went for it.” “I love what we’ve done,” adds Swaby. “We got our deadpan heartbreak down. This record suggests how we continue to walk among the dead – now just in a few more places, and with more of a swagger.”
The Glorious Dead spawned the mighty lead single 'What Makes a Good Man?' a funk-ridden, soul-wrenching study of a deep spiritual question. What Makes A Good Man? has been featured in trailers for HBO, Lawless, Borderlands 2 and Elementary, and the band gave TV performances on The Late Show with David Letterman, Last Call With Carson Daly and The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson.
Since the dawn of 'The Glorious Dead,' The Heavy have done anything other than rest on their laurels. 2013 has seen them reprise their smash hit 'How You Like Me Now?' for ESPN's Draft Week. The song was reworked to feature a guest verse from none other than 50 Cent, who happily enveloped himself in The Heavy's swamp-funk, and even performed in a brand new video. Since then, the song has gone on to reach Gold status in the USA, a stunning success from a British band on a label as independent as they are.
The Heavy came back to the US to perform at Spike TV's Guys Choice Awards as the house band in June 2013. Touring in 2013 has so far been a SOLD OUT UK Tour, an EU Tour in May, plus USA and Canadian dates in June and August, with another EU/UK Tour booked for the end of the year. Festival highlights this summer include Ottawa Jazz Festival, Rock-A-Field in Luxembourg, Hove in Norway, T In The Park in Scotland, Glastonbury and WOMAD in England, Osheaga in Montreal, Outside Lands in San Francisco and Afropunk in New York.
To date, this true original of a band have sold 750,000 singles and over 150,000 albums. Long live The Heavy.
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Drew Lustman aka FaltyDL was born and grew up in New Haven, Connecticut. These days he lives in Brooklyn, New York. Releasing music for Planet Mu, Ramp, Rush Hour, 50 Weapons, Hemlock, Swamp81, his own Blueberry Records imprint and, of course, Ninja Tune, he has recorded three albums (Love Is A Liability, You Stand Uncertain and Hardcourage) and will share his fourth LP In The Wild on 11th August 2014. He has also toured with James Blake; opened for Radiohead; and remixed for the likes of Seun Kuti, Photek, The xx and Disclosure.

Drew Lustman aka FaltyDL was born and grew up in New Haven, Connecticut. These days he lives in Brooklyn, New York. Releasing music for Planet Mu, Ramp, Rush Hour, 50 Weapons, Hemlock, Swamp81, his own Blueberry Records imprint and, of course, Ninja Tune, he has recorded three albums (Love Is A Liability, You Stand Uncertain and Hardcourage) and will share his fourth LP In The Wild on 11th August 2014. He has also toured with James Blake; opened for Radiohead; and remixed for the likes of Seun Kuti, Photek, The xx and Disclosure.